101 Dalmation Street: Meet the Dawsons
by The-Suburban-Guy
Summary: This is a collection of one-shots all set within the same universe. The main cast has been pared down to the fifteen named kids (Dylan, Dolly, Dawkins, Dante, David-DaVinci, D.J., Delgado, Dee Dee and Dana-Dizzy, Derek-Diesel, Deepak, Triple D-with Deja Vu now named Debby, and Dorothy) and their parents living as a human family, the Dawsons, in Camden Town.
1. Responsibility

This story takes place in an alternate universe where our main cast is human, the Dawson family, living at 101 Dalmatian Street. The family is also pared down from 101 members to Doug and Delilah and their fifteen kids: Dylan (age 16), Dolly (15), Dawkins and Dante (14, twins), David (Da Vinci is renamed David, 13), D. J. (12), Delgado (10), Dana and Dee Dee (Dizzy is renamed Dana, 8), Derek (Diesel is renamed Derek, 7), Deepak (6), Destiny, Dallas, and Debby (Déjà vu is renamed Debby, 5), and Dorothy (2). Their personality traits remain consistent with their characterization on the show, but may be slightly adjusted for their ages listed above.

**Responsibility**

Here we go again. Dylan reached over to silence the alarm on his phone. It was 6:15. He had exactly ten minutes to get a shower, put on deodorant, brush his teeth, and get dressed. Then he had to wake up the rest of the boys. Dolly was already up downstairs, it took her longer to get ready so she had to get up before him to be on time to wake up the girls.

Dylan clambered down from the top bunk. Everyone else was still fast asleep. Dante was wrapped up in his blankets in the bottom bunk, Dawkins had crashed at his computer-apparently after winning another all-night Hearthstone tournament with the other kids in his class, David was covered with bits of charcoal dust-he usually got his inspiration in the early morning and knocked out a sketch or two before getting back to bed, D.J. was wearing his headphones-some playlist still going as he slept through another trap cover, Delgado and Derek were sharing a bed-not surprising considering how close they were-with Derek dug deep into the comforter, and Deepak was in sleep as he was awake-somehow inexplicably stressed and calm at the same time-half on the mattress half on the floor. Dylan stretched as he walked to the upstairs bathroom. He had eight minutes now before the chaos began.

After a quick shower (cold water because Dolly had used up all the hot water earlier) Dylan grabbed the nearest toothbrush (because no one bothered to keep track who used which at this point, Dylan had tried a labeling system but everyone else ignored it) and scrubbed as he applied deodorant. He spat in the sink, dried his shaggy mess of brown hair, then got dressed. He slipped into his white and red rugby shirt, a pair of khakis, and some blue trainers. He checked his watch: two minutes left. Better check to make sure Dolly was on-it, sometimes she got distracted watching some pro skater on YouTube and forgot to get up the girls.

He quickly descended the front stairs and knocked on the bottom floor bathroom. Dolly opened the door, fully dressed, with her hair half-straightened.

"Just wanted to give you a heads-up, it's one minute til morning wakeup."

"I can read a clock, Dylan." She snarked, "But thanks, I'll get the girls up."

He smiled and walked back up the stairs. He didn't envy Dolly, having to wake up Triple-D (the pet name for their triplet little sisters) was always a pain. One, if not all of them, usually refused to get up on the grounds of 'beauty rest', and Dolly usually had to drag them to the hall to get ready.

"Alright, everyone up! Time to get ready for school. We have one hour until I leave with the car and you have to catch the bus to school, Dante." Dylan had waited last week for Dante to print out some assignment for his Honors Literature course and ended up getting them all to school late. Mum wasn't happy about having to sign fourteen tardy slips.

"I get it, gees. It's not the end of the world to get to school late…"

"Coming from you, that's surprising." Dawkins retorted, rolling out of bed to start rummaging through their dresser.

"Okay, morning shower people you know what to do. Everyone else get dressed and brush your teeth, that includes you Derek-Dad doesn't want another cavity this dentist trip-I'm going to start breakfast."

"What's for breakfast?" Delgado asked, grabbing his track uniform out of the wardrobe against the back wall.

"Pancakes and sausage, and veggie sausage." Dylan smiled at Deepak, who had sworn off meat when he realized it meant killing animals.

As Dylan walked downstairs he heard Dolly angrily groan as she pulled Destiny from her bed, she was holding onto the comforter as Dolly dragged her to the bathroom where the other girls were already preparing.

"You need any help there?" Dylan gestured to Dolly's load, who pouted and huffed as she finally relinquished and stood up.

Dolly sighed and pushed a strand of hair out of her eyes, "One of these days I'm going to bring a bucket of water in and soak them…"

"But then you'd have to run their sheets in the dryer." Dylan reminded Dolly of their family's industrial washer and dryer in the basement. The dryer was an absolute nightmare to use and had to be constantly reset to work correctly, but it was the only one large enough to handle the demands of a family of seventeen.

"Good point. You have breakfast today or do I?"

"My turn, which means you're on lunch and backpack duty."

"Great…" Dolly rolled her eyes, Dylan smirked. He knew Dolly didn't really mind all that much, just like he didn't mind making breakfast, but it was her way to add a touch of sarcasm to their routine to try to bring levity to the stress of raising thirteen siblings with little parental assistance.

Dylan picked Dorothy out of her crib and got her dressed and changed, then set her in a playpen while he started breakfast. Pancakes were easy and everyone liked them, so long as he prepared them correctly. He liked bananas, Dolly liked chocolate chips, Dante liked his burnt to a crisp with extra butter, Dawkins liked applesauce in his, David wasn't fussy (about this one thing in his life) but preferred his as silver dollar cakes, D. J. liked strawberries (but would have to settle for blueberries today because Dolly hadn't gotten them at the shop yesterday), Delgado liked his with cinnamon, Dana and Dee Dee were the same-sprinkles, Derek ate anything-so Dylan usually just gave him anything someone else rejected, Deepak liked his with oatmeal and wheat germ (seriously, what kind of kid likes that? It amazed Dylan how mature he was for six), Destiny liked hearts, Dallas liked diamonds, and Debby was fine with plain circles (thank God a normal request), and Dorothy wasn't old enough to eat on her own so he or Dolly had to cut up the pancake and feed her.

While Dylan worked on getting a small diner's worth of breakfast prepared Dolly had started backpack checks. Every morning she or Dylan checked to make sure everyone had all their books and homework in their backpacks. She also had to prepare Dorothy's day bag for the nursery school, which usually didn't take too long. Everyone's bag appeared fine, aside from Derek who had somehow filled his with potting soil in addition to his school books (boy I'm glad this stuff scrubs out), and once she remedied that it was time to get lunches ready.

Dolly wasn't as accommodating as Dylan when it came to preparing lunches, because honestly, it would take her even longer than Dylan making breakfast to do so. Every lunch bag got the same contents: a sandwich (the one thing she did vary-only because otherwise everyone would complain), apple, granola bar, pudding cup (ugh… why did Dylan insist on butterscotch this week), baby carrots, and a yogurt. She then filled the thermoses, giving the younger kids hot chocolate (it won't kill them to have a little extra sugar, plus its November in London, it's too cold to not drink some) and herself and the older ones coffee or tea (as Dylan absolutely refused to touch coffee after one particularly bad visit to a Starbucks last year).

The rest of the family started filing into the dining room, sitting around the table at the spots where Dylan had left their preferred pancakes. Dolly and Dylan both glanced at the wall clock as they sat down to eat. There was twenty minutes left until they had to leave, which should be plenty of time if nothing catastrophic happened.

After the meal Dylan went outside to start the car-or rather the van. The ancient VW Bus was the only vehicle big enough to fit the entire family-or at least all the kids, it only held sixteen. Dolly worked to finish up getting everyone ready, including helping some of the younger ones with jackets. Dawkins was on dish duty (it was Tuesday), and quickly rinsed off the plates and stuck them in the dishwasher. Dante and David did a final headcount as everyone left the house, then Dolly locked up and joined the rest in the passenger seat of the van.

Traffic was terrible-as usual for London-but they managed to drop off Dorothy and make it to the school parking lot with ten minutes to the bell. After everyone else unloaded Dylan helped Delgado get his arm crutches from the trunk (even with them he was still one of the best sprinters on the school track team). He then locked up and met Dolly by the door. They were in the same grade, and because the school sorted students alphabetically for homeroom they both had the same teacher, Mr. Farrant.

Mr. Farrant was also the upper school's history teacher and was clearly passionate about it. Dylan and Dolly had his class together in the afternoon in addition to being in his homeroom and it was almost too much to handle. He was clearly a nice guy though, and did run the school's videogame club along with Ms. Douglas, the physics teacher. After taking attendance and going over a few announcements the class ended and Dylan and Dolly briefly separated as they attended their morning classes.

Dylan had placed into mostly honors courses, with one notable exception-history. He loved dinosaurs and ancient creatures, but given that was pre-history it didn't help him at all with having to learn the causes of the War of the Roses. Dolly was also in a few honors courses-English Literature and French-but took more artistic courses than the electives Dylan had chosen for his morning classes (she still didn't understand how he, or anyone for that matter, could choose to use an elective period for a second science course or performance band). Dawkins, Dante, and David were also in the upper school (David having advanced a grade early on because he was 'gifted'), but given the age difference mostly had different classes (although Dawkins was in Dylan's physics course and David had art with Dolly).

At lunch Dylan and Dolly usually sat together, as their friend groups had merged long ago to the point where trying to sit apart was futile. Lunch was always an interesting affair, as there were always six conversations going on at once, as well as at least one game of Magic the Gathering (courtesy of Dylan and Fergus, who was secretly a GIANT NERD-shut up Dolly-under his tough guy image).

After lunch Dolly and Dylan had most of their classes in common, sitting through French, English Literature, and History together before splitting up for science at the end of the day. At the last bell they met up by their lockers (something the school had just recently added) and then walked to the front entrance of the school for the rest of their siblings to congregate.

After another dreadful drive through traffic (I swear Dolly if there weren't children present I would do something obscene to the driver of that Lorry!) and picking up Dorothy (I have no idea where she learned that word-Dylan remind me to have a word with Dana and Dee Dee later) Dylan finally pulls the car into the spot in front of the house. Everyone rushes out, up the front steps, and into the house.

Evening is much calmer than morning, there isn't a time crunch. Dylan gets everyone corralled to do homework (I don't care if it isn't due until the end of the week, it's a four page report, you need to start working on it now) while Dolly keeps them from running off (D.J. get back here, I know you still have more to do, I checked your planner). Usually Mum and Dad get back around the time homework is done, and after a brief dog pile on Dad dinner is served.

Everyone has their own evening ritual, with some watching television, other reading, some writing, drawing, and even digging in the backyard sandbox (put a coat on, you'll catch your death in this weather!). Life may be a bit challenging when you have a big family, but for the Dawsons at 101 Dalmatian Street they wouldn't change it for the world.


	2. School Picture Day

**School Picture Day**

Dante looked at himself in the mirror as he fiddled with his tie. He might hate getting his picture taken normally, but that was because he was the only spot of darkness in a family photo of rainbows and sunshine. He had nothing against his family, but sometimes the constant Brady Bunch vibe was too much. With school picture day he got a chance to take a picture on his own and show off how dark he could dress-not to mention how well. While he normally didn't go for the whole steampunk aesthetic, dressing in black and crimson with a top hat, waistcoat, and suit jacket made him look good, damn good.

Dawkins walked in from the bathroom and scoffed as he looked at Dante, but immediately regretted it. They might be polar opposites, but he was his identical twin, and the two were closer to each other than their other siblings.

"So, I suppose you didn't like Mum's suggested outfit?" Dawkins gestured to the beige polo shirt and navy slacks sitting on Dante's bed. Dante glanced at the bed, then Dawkins, then the bed again before raising an eyebrow and replying.

"When was the last time you saw me wear beige?"

"Fair point."

"Besides, unlike the rest of you I have an image to maintain." Dante did have a reputation with school picture day. Every year the envelopes arrived home and Mum and Dad would open them up and look at all the pictures, then carefully they'd cut out a few wallet sized photos and mail them to all their relatives: Nan, Aunt Carol, Uncle John and Aunt Lisa, Grandpa and Gramma up North, and the list went on. Every year Dante outdid himself, he never exactly smiled, but his smirk and progressively darker outfits made an interesting mantelpiece decoration when compared to his siblings.

Dante finished up in the mirror, then gestured for Dawkins to use it. He'd already combed his hair earlier and made a mental note he had to touch up his roots-he hated being a natural blonde, no one takes you seriously.

Dawkins parted his hair in the middle then applied what could have been considered a hazardous amount of hair gel. He tapped it a minute later, after it had set. "Hard as a rock and perfectly shiny. Just the way I like it." Dante cracked a minute smile. He wasn't one for outward emotion, but he swore Dawkins knew every button to press to get him to show how he felt.

"Guys, come on! Breakfast is ready!" Dylan poked his head in the door. He was wearing a plaid sweater with a white collared shirt underneath and a pair of brown slacks and loafers. "I won't say it again, if you miss Belgian waffle day it's just more for the rest of us!" He taunted as he descended the stairs.

Downstairs the rest of the family was all in their best attire. Dolly had ditched the usual t-shirt and jeans for a denim jacket and skirt, David was wearing a green polo and khakis-a surprising aversion from his usual more Technicolor attire, D.J. was wearing a red turtleneck-and itching at a tag in the back, Delgado wore a button down shirt and jeans, Dana and Dee Dee wore identical dresses-blue with white stripes, Derek wasn't in his picture day clothes-Dylan and Dolly had learned to just send him to school with them and have him change right before or else he'd somehow end up getting them stained and dirty for the picture, Deepak wore a hemp collared shirt and black slacks, and Triple D all wore massive pink dresses which were covered in sparkles. Dante sat down at the end of the table and started in on a stack of Belgian waffles. As much as he was remit to admit it, Dylan was a really good cook.

At school Dante had broken off from the rest of his siblings sans Dawkins as the two went to their homeroom. Mr. Channel was the school's physical education teacher, health teacher, and driving instructor. Dante had no idea how he managed to do all three.

"So it looks like our year is having our pictures taken right before lunch." Dawkins mumbled, looking over the adjusted schedule for picture day. "Right after Dolly and Dylan's year and before David's…"

Dante shrugged, it made sense to do them in order, that's how it usually was done. He glanced around as the other students went to their first class, most of them looked similar to Dawkins-slacks with a button down and tie. Dante never exactly 'fit in' but he didn't mind, he liked being a bit different, and besides with his massive family he never needed to make too many friends. He'd just borrow a few of his siblings'.

Mr. Channel finished taking roll then went into some lecture about the importance of physical fitness before having the whole class start doing some heinous exercise called a 'burpee'. Dawkins and Dante exchanged a knowing look-neither of them were particularly fond of physical fitness, but there wasn't much of a choice. Mercifully they ended quickly with the bell and the two went to their first of many classes together. Mr. Channel wasn't too bad a teacher, and given that he also raced cars on the weekend-and sometimes brought his car in-it made up for the occasional muscle strain.

Because of Dante's knack at standardized tests and Dawkins' penchant for essays the two had managed to score the same on the school placement exams, and as such were in the same classes. It had become a running joke in their family how the two of them were secretly just one person because they were never seen apart. Dawkins got in line behind Dante as they waited for Ms. Rose to open the door. Ms. Rose insisted on having everyone wait outside until she opened the door, that way she got a chance to greet each student on the way in. It was a nice gesture, and even Dante didn't mind the occasional kind nod as she welcomed him into the room.

After Home Economics there was chemistry, then pre-calculus (where on Earth did I put my graphing calculator?), then finally pictures right before lunch. Dylan and Dolly were walking out as Dante and Dawkins' year were walking in.

"Good luck, and remember to smile Mr. Gloom-and-Doom…" Dolly teased. Dante rolled his eyes.

"See you guys at lunch." Dylan waved as his year filed up the staircase.

Dawkins was momentarily distracted as he turned the corner leading the line and tripped, landing face-first on the linoleum. Dante immediately stooped down to help him up, the other students simply going around them. An ink pen that had been in Dawkins' shirt pocket had exploded, leaving a large blue stain on his white shirt. His tie was also discolored, with a large blotch over what had once been a collection of alternating white and orange stripes.

"Oh, come on!" Dawkins angrily glared upward as he gestured to his shirt.

"It's alright, they do this thing alphabetically, right? And with all the Caldwells and Campbells we have at least a few minutes to fix this." Dante turned towards Mrs. Potter, their pre-calculus teacher who was preoccupied with trying to get everyone in order. "Mrs. Potter, may Dawkins and I be excused for a moment, we need to clean his shirt." Dante gestured to his brother's large ink blot. She nodded, and Dante quickly dragged Dawkins to the washroom at the end of the hall.

"You're lucky we're the same size." Dante quipped as he pulled off his suit jacket. "Give me your shirt, I have a vest so I can cover the stain." Dawkins unbuttoned his top and handed it to Dante, who gave him his scarlet button down. "I don't have time or club soda, so ditch the tie." Dawkins stuffed his tie in his pocket. "Not bad… for not being me."

Dawkins smiled, appreciating how much his brother cared. "Thanks Dante." He quickly hugged his brother before he could protest. Dante reluctantly accepted for a few seconds before pushing him off.

"Now come on, we're probably next in line at this point."


	3. The Track Meet

**The Track Meet**

Delgado hated being told to slow down. If he wanted to wolf down his food he should be allowed to. If he wanted to slide down the banister instead of taking the stairlift he should be allowed to. If he wanted to use his racing braces instead of his chair during a normal school day he should be allowed to. All he wanted to do was go fast. Delgado couldn't wait until he could drive and go as fast as he wanted to.

But for now the only time he got to be fast was when he was at track meets. Mum and Dad had fought the school tooth and nail to even get him signed up for the track team. Apparently the school didn't think it would be a good idea for him to race because of his "condition".

Ugh, he hated that word. "Condition." All it ever meant was someone was going to start talking like he wasn't a person, or he was somehow less than a whole person. Both made him mad.

Delgado was born with a tumor on his spinal cord that made it so he couldn't use his legs. He had had surgery shortly after he was born, but it didn't make much of a difference. He still couldn't feel his legs, or walk. He'd always felt a bit different as a result.

Obviously being in a wheel chair made him stand out. It took him twice as long to do some things-he had to use a slow chairlift to get upstairs. He took his showers at night so he could use the stool and not have to worry about missing a spot because he was under a time crunch. He had to wait for Dylan or Dolly to help him into the car. It was annoying. He didn't like being slow, he just wanted to be fast.

But life was like that. Deepak told him to just "be Zen" and "love who he was". It wasn't bad advice, but Delgado wished he could be someone else sometimes.

But when he was at a track meet he didn't mind being himself. Delgado had learned how to use braces and arm crutches when he was six, after pestering his parents constantly for a few months. Mum and Dad weren't sure if they would work, given he couldn't feel much of anything more than a few inches below his waist. But with work and therapy and patience he managed to learn how to use his arms to swing his body and 'walk' without his chair. It was exhausting, mind you, but it was a lot faster than being forced to use his chair.

The meet today was against another school from halfway across the city, he'd forgotten the name. It usually didn't matter. Coach Channel was in the locker room, giving some stirring speech he wasn't exactly paying attention to. Getting into the uniform was always a bit annoying. The locker room didn't have the benches at the right height, so managing to change always was a bit of a pain. Once he got his shirt off he slid his jersey on, then had to fight with his pants to get those off and put on the uniform shorts. It took some effort, but he succeeded.

After all that he then had to get his braces on. Coach usually offered to help, but Delgado had learned how to manage on his own after a few attempts. He fastened the Velcro in place, then made sure it was a secure fit by carefully standing up with his arm crutches. It was a success.

About twenty minutes later the team walked out to the field, while the stands were mostly empty (it was a cold day and track was never the most popular sport to watch) Delgado could clearly see a large clump on the home side. His siblings pretty much made up a whole cheer squad, with Dolly at the helm. She'd had her air horn confiscated last time, so this time she'd brought a load of thunder sticks. Delgado nodded and smiled at them, unable to let go of the arm crutches for fear of falling over. Dolly started whacking her thunder sticks, and soon the whole family had joined in.

His event was the 800. Delgado wasn't quick to start, but once he got going it was hard to beat him. So far he'd scored in the top five every match, and he didn't intend to let that streak end.

The 800 started about a half hour into the meet, with Delgado in the third lane. The referee had to review a time discrepancy from the previous race, so the boys stood waiting in their lanes. Delgado was between a boy from his school-Jason something-or-other-and a boy from the other school. He was tall and thin, with dark brown hair and cold blue eyes.

"What, your school get desperate and let a cripple on the team? Couldn't find anyone better for us to beat?"

Delgado gritted his teeth and tried to channel his inner Deepak. Zen… remain calm… let it roll right off… insults do not define you…

"What, are you deaf and lame? I'm talking to you, brace-boy."

"Hey, knock it off." Jason replied. "He might be in braces but at least he doesn't have a face as ugly as sin."

The boy scowled. "Nice to know you have a few little friends to fight your battles, brace-boy." With that Delgado suddenly felt off balance. The boy had kicked his left crutch and Delgado toppled to the ground.

Coach Channel saw the clatter, as did the other Dawsons.

"D.J. watch your little brothers and sisters. We're going to have a chat with the boy next to Delgado." Dolly hissed as she stood up, fire in her eyes. Dylan quickly followed, as did Dawkins, Dante, and David.

Delgado wasn't hurt-aside from a scrape on his one arm. But falling down like that was a serious blow to his self esteem. As he rolled over to a sitting position Coach Channel ran over.

"Are you okay? Do you need me to help you up?"

Delgado shook his head as his eyes started to burn, he fought to hold back tears as he knew he'd been humiliated in front of-a mercifully small-audience.

"Looks like brace-boy couldn't keep his balance." The boy taunted.

Coach Channel had been a physical education teacher for nearly two decades. In all that time he had never wanted to slap a child across the face. He resisted the urge, and instead did what he could. "Young man! You are in a heap of trouble. You are so far up shit creek without a paddle you might as well be the captain of the SS Screwed, because boy I am PISSED. And anyone who's ever had me as a gym teacher knows that isn't good."

Just as he finished saying this the five eldest Dawsons showed up. Dolly looked like she was ready to kill someone, her eyes narrowed to fine slits sitting above a menacing growl made somehow even more terrifying courtesy of her braces. Dylan's face was devoid of the usual cheer and stress lines, instead replaced by a tranquil fury that flashed when sneered. Dawkins was holding his thunder sticks as if they were weapons, and looked angry enough to actually use the inflatables to whack the boy until he cried for mercy. Dante smiled, his furrowed brows and cocked posture made it abundantly clear that he wasn't the nice one, and was well acquainted with unleashing his fury on his younger siblings' would-be bullies. David pulled Delgado up, then turned to the boy, his copper eyes were unsettlingly fixed on the boy as he barred his teeth in a scowl.

Jason took the opportunity to pipe up before the five Dawsons tore apart the-now terrified-runner. "I saw him trip Delgado, and he called him a cripple." He paused for a moment, adjusting his glasses, "I'm fairly certain that those behaviors warrant a minimum of his barring from this round, possibly more based on the clear unprovoked aggression toward a member of our team."

"Thank you, Jason." Coach Channel replied, not removing his gaze from the runner who looked like he was about to wet himself. "If I remember correctly, unsportsmanlike behavior and intentional aggression toward the member of the opposite team merit a six match ban as well as a default victory in the event which the behavior occurred for the school of the victimized student."

After a brief meeting with the referee-in which video that Destiny had been taking showed the boy clearly pushing Delgado over-a punishment was handed over.

"Given your clear aggression toward another competitor and use of unsportsmanlike slurs against another student you have been banned for the entirety of this season and your school forfeits this match." The referee looked disgusted as he glared at the bully, then looked up at his coach. "I strongly suggest you make sure this type of behavior does not happen again or we will place sanctions against your school."

Delgado felt a strong hand on his shoulder as Coach Channel patted him and knelt down. "I'm sorry that happened. That kid was a real jerk. His school isn't going to win anything, but if you want we can still run the event."

Delgado smiled. His older siblings had returned to the stands after seeing Delgado was alright-and Dolly had attempted to strangle the kid (Dylan grabbed her before she could, he's not worth it Dolly…). The incident only seemed to double their support, with the thunder sticks now drowning out most of the other noise in the stadium, the occasional shout of "Delgado" ringing from the home stands.

"Okay, sure."

Delgado and the rest of the home team ran the event, their competition being barred from participating in the 800. Delgado ran a personal best, 2:33.8, and managed to take silver in the meet.

After the match Delgado changed and walked out to meet his siblings. His arms were sore, and he was looking forward to getting back into his chair. Dylan had brought it from the car and had it waiting by the exit. He sighed with relief and sat down in it, taking off his braces and handing them to Dolly.

"That kid was a real asshole." Dylan declared. Delgado was surprised, Dylan almost never swore-not even in traffic.

"Did you just swear?"

"Don't get used to it. But I can't always control myself when someone messes with my little brother." Dylan gestured to a parked car at the edge of the lot. "And neither can the rest of us…"

Apparently the car belonged to the family of the boy who had knocked Delgado over. The parents were currently being debriefed by the referee back in the stadium, and in the mean time Dante had bled the air out of the tires. Dolly also had done her part, having stuffed one of Dorothy's diapers through a cracked window, grinning evilly. David had decided to use his artistic talents to change a bumper sticker from "My child is an honor student" to something far less family friendly.

"And that's not all." Dawkins said, gleefully holding up his cell phone. Dawkins had hacked into the rival school's Facebook page and posted the video that Triple D had taken as a pinned post on the homepage.

"Wait, won't you guys get in trouble for this?"

"Not if the school's security cameras just suddenly happened to malfunction for…" Dawkins checked his watch, "The last twenty six minutes."

"Come on, let's get pizza, my treat." Dylan offered.

Delgado smiled as he wheeled over to the van. His family was undeniably insane with what they'd just done for him, but he wouldn't want to be related to anyone else.


	4. Summer Holiday

**Summer Holiday**

Summer was the best time of year for the Dawsons. With school out and Mum and Dad able to use their days off they were finally able to go on vacation together for a whole week.

"Where are we going this year?" Dee Dee bounced up and down.

"Is it Disneyland?" Dana jumped up as Dee Dee came down.

"Or Paris?" Triple D chimed in.

"Or Tokyo?" Dante poked his head up from reading some manga with a lot of blood on the cover.

"Please be Cape Canaveral…" Dylan wished, leaning against the back of the massive sectional in the living room.

"I wouldn't mind that." Dawkins replied, pointing at Dylan. They exchanged a brief fist-bump.

"I would. What about Utah? They've got extreme rock climbing!" Dolly held a brochure up and waved it back and forth.

"I would rather wear supermarket jeans… Though they've got a new exhibition at MOMA in New York…" David hinted.

D.J. frowned, "No way. New York has a terrible music scene, Los Angeles however…"

"What about the Grand Canyon?" Derek chimed in.

"A giant hole in the ground?" Delgado replied.

"Exactly!"

"No way, I want to go to Indianapolis-NASCAR is supposed to be amazing up close!"

"I vote for Nepal, they've got a great sense of Zen there." Deepak said, quickly reigning himself back in from his excitement.

Dorothy simply clapped her hands as her older siblings started to bicker. The living room sofa barely held them all, but no one bothered to move as a shoving match broke out between Deepak and Derek.

"Everyone! Please!" Doug shouted, trying to regain control.

He turned to Delilah. They both stood at the front of the living room, looking at the expectant eyes in front of them.

"As you know we've decided to do this fairly. Every year at least one of you has done nothing but gripe and complain the entire trip. We can't get consensus, but we can give everyone an equal shot." Delilah paused as she pulled out a stack of index cards and pens. "Write down what you want to do-something within reason. Your father and I have saved up, but we cannot afford to go halfway across the world or stay in a five-star spa and be pampered." A few sighs were heard at this point. "Then your father and I will randomly pick one idea from the pile and it will be our trip. Okay?"

"Yes, Mum." A chorus of voices rang out.

"Good."

After a few minutes everyone had filled out their card, with some of the younger ones getting help writing from Dylan and Dolly. Delilah collected the cards and placed them into a pile, face down, then shuffled. After a moment she fanned the cards out and had Doug pick one. Everyone held their breath as he flipped over the card.

"We are going camping in the Midlands!"

"What!? Who wrote camping?" Dana angrily pouted.

Dolly turned to Dylan, "Hey, not me. I wanted to go to Ireland." He replied, shaking his hands defensively.

"That was my idea." Delilah replied. "And no, I didn't mark the cards."

Dawkins put his hand down.

"We leave tomorrow morning at 0800. Wake up at 0600." Doug stated.

"But that's earlier than school!" D.J. protested.

"We need to leave early to beat the traffic and get settled. I'm going to call to rent a campsite while the rest of you start packing."

The next morning it was pouring outside as the family grumbled and filed out into the van and Mum's car.

"Doug, you and the older ones will take my car. I'll follow in the van." Delilah shouted over the downpour.

"Okay! According to the GPS we should be there in only three and a half hours."

Dylan groaned from the passenger seat.

"Which means five with traffic." Dolly muttered.

After leaving the city Doug turned onto the M1, with Delilah following close behind.

"I can say one thing, I'm glad I'm not in the back car with everyone else. I don't think I could stand to be around a bunch of little kids cramped into a car for that long." David mused, looking bored out the window.

The van was in fact a very literal definition of chaos. D.J. was trying his best to keep order, but had little practice, normally being the middle child. Mum was up front, trying to make sure she could concentrate on the road, but it seemed like every few seconds something went wrong.

First the cap of Dorothy's sippy cup fell off and spilled juice all over the seat. Then Dana got carsick and they had to pull over to let her out. Derek wouldn't stop struggling to get out of his car seat, and had somehow managed to get himself entirely turned around while still belted in. Without internet Destiny, Dallas and Debby had gotten bored and decided to make over a sleeping Deepak, who was surprisingly un-Zen when he saw the results. Delgado kept ramming his seat-even though his legs didn't work he could still punch it when he was bored. And on top of all that D.J. really had to pee but Mum refused to make another stop until they were at least halfway there.

The front car was a bit better, with Doug trying to make small talk over the radio.

"So, anyone see the game on Friday?"

Dawkins rolled his eyes and stared out the window. He had nothing against Dad, but given that he was home so infrequently due to his job it was like talking to a total stranger. A total stranger who had bad taste in music.

"Which one?" Dylan idly replied, trying to keep the car from falling into another awkward silence.

"Uh… I don't know, I didn't see it. I heard it was good though, Teddy saw it at home."

Teddy was another firefighter who worked with Dad. He was a nice guy, really into rugby. He'd been Doug's best man when he married Delilah.

"Why don't we talk about something else?" Dolly suggested.

"Like how we all wanted to do anything but camping?" Dante quipped, not looking up from his book.

"Look, I know you kids don't love camping…"

"Dad, you signed us up for the scouts. Remember what happened to David?" Dawkins pointed to the middle back seat.

David cringed, he'd somehow managed to get trapped upside down in an animal snare and had wet himself in fear. He was stuck upside down for a half hour before the scoutmaster cut him down. It was at that point that he decided to focus on art over the outdoors.

"Please try to have a good time. Your mother loves nature and with her job she never gets a chance to leave the city. It took a lot of work to get a week off, I know, and she just wants to have a good time with you all."

"Okay… for Mum." The five responded, staggered.

"Thank you."

It took nearly five hours to get to the campground, excluding the bathroom break and lunch stop. It was mid-afternoon when the two vehicles pulled into the campsite. The rain had stopped a bit after they left the city and it looked like the grass was dry here. Aside from a small plot of grass surrounded by trees there was a fire pit and a shower/bathroom, and that was about it.

"Wait, we're _tent_ camping?" Dallas screamed in horror.

"No, the cabin's invisible." D.J. replied, both carsick and annoyed at having to rein in his nine younger siblings. "Tag-out. I like being the middle kid. You two are back in charge." He slapped Dylan and Dolly on the shoulder before falling flat on his back, exhausted.

Dante stepped over him as he got out of the car, his legs sore from being cramped behind Dylan for the entire ride. "Well, this is just charming. We certainly won't be attacked by wild animals all the way out here."

"Wild animals? As in, like, not friendly animals?" Destiny looked like she was going to scream.

"Well, that is why it's called nature." Dylan replied, glaring at Dante who was smirking at stirring up a little chaos after being bored for the car ride. "But there's very little chance anything will happen here. The biggest animals around here are badgers or foxes. Neither of which go after people."

"Alright everyone! We have enough tents here for everyone to have two tent buddies. Pick wisely because I don't want anyone trying to switch in the middle of the night." Delilah stated, unpacking the tents from the back of the car.

"I call Dawkins and D.J.!" Dylan shouted, choosing the only two of his brothers who neither snored nor risked wetting themselves.

"Oh thank God." Dawkins breathed a sigh of relief.

After a few hectic minutes the tents were established:

For the boys:

*Dylan, Dawkins, and D.J. in a green canvas pup-tent from their grandparents

*Dante, David, and Delgado in a red monstrosity which had a missing zipper and a conspicuous extra pole (I'm an artist, not an engineer, it's up isn't it?)

*Derek, Deepak, and Doug in a blue dome tent that for some reason smelled vaguely of egg salad

For the girls:

*Dana and Dee Dee in a yellow backpacking tent that could barely fit the two small girls

*Debby, Destiny, and Dallas in a bright pink tent with a massive Hello Kitty logo on the side (Dawkins, it might have been the most structurally sound tent but I think I'd rather die than sleep in that thing…)

*Dolly, Dorothy, and Delilah in the van

"With the seats down it's quite roomy in here, besides, when your father and I first met we used to go camping all the time in this old thing."

Dolly processed for a minute before turning away and silently freaking out after thinking about having to sleep in a van that her parents used to 'go camping' in together.

"And it'll give us a chance to really get to know each other as just us girls!"

Dolly turned back to her mother and forced a smile, thinking of how much it meant to her mother for this to be a good week, but secretly wished she could be anywhere else but there.

After the tents were up it was time to start making dinner.

"Now, since this is a vacation we figure we'll give you kids a break and make most of the food." Doug announced, pulling out an apron from his fire company.

Dylan and Dolly were flabbergasted. Mum and Dad almost never cooked. Not that they didn't try to-but they were always at work when everyone else was eating.

"Uh, thanks!" Dolly almost didn't know what to say.

"Yeah, thanks!" Dylan responded, still trying to become articulate after the unexpected turn of events.

"You kids are in for a treat, your father has decided to make his firehouse five alarm chili for everyone!" Delilah cheerily announced.

Suddenly Dylan's face paled, as did most of the other Dawson kids. Except for Dolly, Dante, and Delgado everyone else remembered practically breathing fire the last time they ate the stuff.

"I'm going to take a Prilosec, who cares to join me?" Dawkins stated, quiet enough so Mum and Dad wouldn't hear over the radio they were playing as they cooked. Ten hands shot up.

"Follow me…"

Dinner wasn't bad, so much as it was too spicy to eat. If not for the chili peppers, ghost peppers, jalapeno peppers, and Cayenne peppers Dylan thought he might have enjoyed the chili. If it wasn't for that it would basically be a Sloppy Joe, and he loved Sloppy Joes.

"You guys are such spice wimps! I can't believe you think this is hot!" Dolly cackled as she finished her second bowl.

"Not all of us were born without taste buds." David panted, fanning his mouth before taking a large gulp of milk.

"It's not that we don't have them, just that ours are better." Delgado replied, happily licking his spoon clean after another serving.

Dante smirked as he watched the others, but nearly laughed when he watched Dawkins take a small bite and immediately start chugging a gallon of ice water.

"Well, hopefully breakfast isn't quite as potent…" Dawkins puffed, "Because I don't think my GI tract can take much more than this."

As night fell Doug started a campfire in the iron ring in the middle of the campsite. The kids lugged over the benches from the picnic table to sit on, and Delilah brought out a few camping chairs from the trunk of the car.

"Can we toast marshmallows?" Derek asked, still hungry despite eating too much of the spicy chili.

"Well, I did bring a few bags…" Delilah pulled a bag out from the cooler.

"Hooray!"

Everyone seems to toast a marshmallow differently. Some like to hold it over the fire and rotate the marshmallow to an even golden brown (Dylan, Dawkins, David, and Debby). Some shove it straight into the flame and wait for it to char (Dolly, Dante, D.J., Delgado, Dana). Some hold it just above the embers to warm it, but not toast it (Dee Dee, Deepak, Destiny, and Dallas). And others simply eat them raw from the bag… Derek.

Delilah held Dorothy on her lap as she helped her toast a marshmallow, Dorothy's eyes wide at the fire in front of her. Doug smiled as he pecked mom on the cheek, then Dorothy on the top of the head, causing her to giggle.

"You know, I did bring something else for during the fire…" Doug teased.

"Is it chocolate?" Derek looked up from the hole he had dug with his marshmallow toasting stick.

"No, it's a surprise." He stood up and walked over to the trunk of the car, then came back with a guitar case.

"Oh, Doug. It's been ages!" Delilah laughed.

"Dad plays guitar?" Delgado asked, cocking his head to the side.

"Yes, he does. In fact, that's how we first met…" Delilah smiled.

"I think I still remember our song, forgive me if I'm a bit rusty." Doug smiled sheepishly.

He cleared his throat and checked the guitar was in tune.

"We'll do it all, everything, on our own… We don't need anything or anyone…" He began, his deep voice suddenly filled with an even deeper layer of nostalgia and something else almost indescribable.

As Doug played D.J. started tapping along on the bench, and soon afterward everyone was tapping or clapping as their father sang. Even Dante couldn't help but embrace the Brady Bunch atmosphere-if only for a few minutes.

"If I lay here, if I just lay here, would you lie with me and just forget the world?"

Delilah was nearly in tears when Doug finished, "Yes, even after all these years, a million times yes."

"Well, while I attempt to hide the fact that we all just cried over the rekindling of our parents' love, do you know any other songs?" Dante asked, genuinely smiling.

"Well, I do take requests…"

The next few hours were a mish-mash of every style and genre of music imaginable. Doug had a surprisingly wide repertoire of memorized songs, and those he didn't know he looked up the tab for on his iPad.

"Alright everyone, I think it's time to turn in-your mother and I have a treat planned for tomorrow, but if you're all asleep I don't think you'd enjoy it very much." Doug announced, putting the guitar away in its case.

"Aww… one more song, please?" Dee Dee begged.

"I've already done 'one more song' four times; it's time to get ready for bed."

"Fine…"

The next morning Dolly woke up to Delilah changing Dorothy.

"Morning Mum. What time is it?"

"About half past eight. You're one of the last ones up. Your brother's been entertaining the little ones while your father works on breakfast. By the time you're changed it should be ready, I'd imagine."

Dolly got dressed and slipped out of the van's side door. She was tired and a bit sore from sleeping on the hard floor, but she wasn't going to complain. At least she wasn't in a drafty tent.

Breakfast was over shortly, with the eggs and toast down it was time to reveal the day's plans.

"So we did some research and found out there are quite a few things we can do during the day around here. We will do all of these eventually, but given we're here for the week we want you to help choose what you want to do first." Delilah began.

"There's a small theme park about a half hour away we could spend the day at, there's also hiking trails with some bouldering opportunities, one of the towns nearby used to have Leyland factory and they have an automotive history museum, there's a monster movie playing at a drive in-which would be only for the older guys and girls, your Mum is fine with taking a few of you to the shops in town one afternoon to look around, and I managed to get a hold of a few tickets for a concert one of the local councils is holding." Doug concluded.

"Honestly I'm surprised. I kind of figured the Midlands were boring." Dylan responded.

"Well, we did intentionally pick this week for vacation because things tend to happen mid-summer, but we certainly did get lucky." Doug shrugged.

The next few days consisted of a series of day trips and nights spent around the campfire, singing and chatting.

Monday saw the amusement park. While small, it was certainly enough to keep the younger Dawsons occupied. Derek got sick twice, and loved each time. Dylan and Dolly managed to keep up a competitive streak at some of the midway games-with Dolly managing a better hammer hit on the strength tester, and Dylan getting all the milk bottles knocked over to win a stuffed Dalmatian. Everyone had a good day. Doug swore he even saw Dante laughing when he smashed Dawkins on the Dodgems.

The next morning the family split, with Doug hiking to go bouldering with Dolly, D.J., Dana, Dee Dee, Derek, and Deepak ; while Delilah took Dylan, Dawkins, Dante, David, Delgado, Triple D, and Dorothy to the automotive museum.

The museum was surprisingly good, considering its relative location and size. There were a few exhibits on the history of the automotive industry in England, as well as other items the siblings seemed to gravitate toward. Dawkins and Dylan both spent over an hour looking at the sliced apart engines and vehicle diagrams, trying to puzzle how they worked. Dante found himself reading about a few "cursed" vehicles, including one in the museum's collection that was supposedly haunted by a man who died in the car. David admired a few of the custom pinstriping illustrations a local artist had done for the museum; even buying a print of one on a t-shirt (it's not tacky to buy it if it looks this good). Delgado spent nearly the entire time in a simulator tucked away in a back room. He didn't care if the thing was ancient; it was like driving a car. Triple D were more interested in the gift shop, it at least had a good selection of jewelry the museum owner's wife had put out to sell. Dorothy was just happy to be pushed around in her stroller and try to grab anything within arm's reach.

On the hike to Cedar Point the other Dawsons had an enjoyable time as well. Doug was surprisingly quick despite his large frame (Dolly guessed two decades of rescuing people from burning buildings did that), and led the charge on the three mile hike to the bouldering area. When they arrived they were greeted with a large field full of various rocks, as well as a cliff face. There was a booth with a man renting helmets and pads, and after twenty minutes of getting the right size equipment for everyone they were ready to enjoy themselves. The rocks at the base of the cliff face were the right size for the smaller Dawsons to enjoy. Dana and Dee Dee worked to boost each other onto the top of the biggest one they could find, while Derek seemed more interested in trying to hop from rock to rock in cluster of smaller boulders. Deepak scampered up a mid-sized stone and crossed his legs, folding into a lotus position. He smiled as he started to drift into a state of meditation, right before D.J. hopped off the rock he was on while humming the "Indiana Jones" theme song. D.J. had a not-too-surprising tendency to constantly put a soundtrack under what he was doing, and often ended up humming (or when especially in the moment singing) whatever song best matched his mood.

"Look out Deepak! Coming through!" he shouted, then resumed humming.

Dolly and Doug spent the day on the cliff face, with the two alternating who was on belay. Most of the other kids were too young to climb (you had to be ten to climb), but D.J. did briefly. It was one of the few times he was near totally silent, the concentration to not fall hampering his normally ever present string of music.

The rest of the week passed, with each day seemingly topping the previous. Wednesday had Delilah taking a few of the siblings to the shops while Doug taught the rest a few wilderness survival tips. Dylan managed to even start a fire with David's glasses.

Thursday was the day of the concert. D.J. was up bright and early waiting for everyone else going to be ready. He already had had his third cup of coffee by the time Delilah had gotten up to wake up everyone.

"I take it you're excited about the concert?"

"I found out that Scarlet Card is the opening act! I had no idea they'd ever play something like this-normally they're so… underground. But somehow they're here! Gah! I don't even have my Scarlet Card t-shirt to wear…" D.J. kicked his legs as he excitedly sat next to the coffee pot-which was now only a third full.

"Perhaps you should hold off on the caffeine, sweetheart." Delilah smiled, "But I'm glad you're excited."

That afternoon D.J.-along with Dylan, Dolly, and Dante-were seated in the car waiting for Delilah to finish up with the others before handing them over to Doug.

"Come on! We need to get a good spot!" D.J. honked the horn in the car.

"I'll be there in a minute, calm down!"

"I'd stop if I were you. Last time we made Mum upset she made me come into work as a 'patient' for the doctors in training." Dolly warned, not fondly remembering having to sit in a drafty room while being prodded by college students who were not too good at the whole 'bedside manner' thing.

"Good point." D.J. leaned away from the wheel and scooted into the passenger seat.

Delilah started the car and after a brief journey the Vauxhall managed the journey to the fairgrounds where the concert was being held. As soon as she shut off the motor D.J. had already opened the door and was fixing to run to the entrance.

"D.J. hold on!"

He stopped, annoyed at having to wait.

"I realize you're excited, we all are looking forward to today." She paused, "But I need you to stay nearby. We can't have anyone running off."

D.J. sighed, but relented. The last thing he wanted was to get lost at something like this and not be able to find anyone. "Okay Mum, I promise I'll stay close."

"Good. Now, come on! Let's have some fun."

After showing their tickets and receiving plastic wristbands that were much too tight-and a tad itchy-the family made their way toward the stage. The concert was a bit hit. D.J. managed to see one of his favorite bands live, Dolly and Dylan sang along (obnoxiously as possible) to a few horrible love ballads, and Dante actually seemed to have a good time.

"So what, I like Country. I'm allowed to have things I like." Dante responded on the car ride home, after a good bit of ribbing on how he forgot to look mopey for nearly two solid hours.

Friday was the last full day of their vacation and everyone tried to cram as much fun as they could into the remaining hours. The day went by quickly, with the family spending the majority of their time at the campground's pool. The pool wasn't very large, but given how infrequently they got to go swimming it was a welcomed experience.

That night as Delilah got the younger ones under control after their day of fun, Doug and the older Dawson kids went off to see "Bloody Freddy" at the drive-in. As the name alluded, the movie was a pretty standard monster movie about how a man named Freddy was cursed and turned into a massive, bloody mess who attacked people in the woods around a small American town. Dante lived for horror movies and cheered whenever some was decapitated. Dolly laughed at the horrible special effects. Dylan hid his eyes, but didn't want to look like a coward, despite knowing he'd regret watching the movie later that night. Dawkins pointed out all the plot holes, as the others shushed him. Doug smiled, glad to be making good memories with his kids-something he unfortunately didn't have a lot of time for with his job demanding him at the ready every hour of the day.

Saturday was the end of vacation, with everyone packing up the tents and supplies back into the car and van. The seating arrangements were changed on the way back, with D.J. refusing to be on babysitter duty again.

"Do you know how hard it is to control ALL of them?!" he gestured towards the younger Dawsons already belted into the van. "I did it solo last time. Someone else is doing it."

"Fine. We'll draw straws." Dylan pulled out a few straws from his back pocket.

"Why do you have straws in your pocket?" Dolly wondered aloud.

"So we can draw straws. I thought it would be useful…"

"How long have you been carrying them?" Dawkins asked, raising an eyebrow.

"A few months…"

"And you haven't used them except this one time?" Dante remarked.

"No, look, just take a straw, okay?" Dylan held out his hand.

After drawing straws it became apparent that Dante had somehow drawn the shortest straw.

"Nope. Not doing it."

"Dante, you're doing it. You drew the short straw." D.J. gestured to Dante's stub of a straw.

"Fine." Dante huffed, more than slightly irritated at having to act as babysitter.

As the two vehicles pulled away from the campground everyone seemed to be looking out the windows at where they'd spent the last week.

"Goodbye campground." Dee Dee called.

It was a wonderful holiday, and despite the heavy traffic on the way home because of some roadwork that had closed all but one lane of the main road (Oh come on!) it was a week the Dawsons would fondly remember for years to come.


	5. The Recital

**The Recital**

"Come on! The band recital is in twenty minutes, we barely have enough time to get to the school. Everyone in the van, now!" Delilah called, standing at the foot of the stairs. Doug was already outside in the car with most of the kids, but as always, there were stragglers.

"Your brothers will be disappointed if we're late! And I won't take everyone out for chips afterward if you're not down here by the time I get to five!" She looked up the stairs to see David quickly running down the stairs, followed closely by Derek.

"Sorry Mum, I had to get Derek cleaned up, and as a result hadn't gotten changed myself."

She softened, "Fine, but hurry into the car. I don't want anyone waiting for us to show up."

At the school Mr. Westaway had gotten the students arranged for the concert. The upper school band was sitting in the back, while the lower school was on stage. The younger students went first because they couldn't wait the forty minutes the upper school played. Dylan and D.J. were waiting behind stage along with the other upper school students. Meanwhile Deepak, Dana, and Delgado were seated in their assigned places out front.

Mr. Westaway was more composed than usual, but it was evident that he was stressed from the lines under his eyes that continued to deepen each time one of the sections messed up the warm ups. Delgado waited in the back with the other percussionists as Mr. Westaway cued Dana's section-the clarinets-to begin their scales. Deepak had already gone earlier, the flutes and oboe going at the same time.

"Alright everyone, let's start with a concert B flat scale." He raised his baton as a chorus of clarinets rang out, "da-da-da-da-HAUNK-da-da-da-HAA-da-da-da-da-da-da". He smiled nervously, then took a deep breath. "Okay, that sounded pretty good. Kyle, I think you're a tad flat, and Susan-don't forget your embouchure."

Dylan peeked out from behind the curtains. The auditorium was starting to fill with families, but theirs hadn't yet arrived. "Not yet. Probably got stuck trying to park." He glanced at D.J. who was sitting upside down in a chair with the rest of the saxophones surrounding him.

"Makes sense. Ready for your big solo piece?" D.J. replied, rolling off the chair, woozy from being upside down.

Dylan coughed. In all honesty he hadn't tried to think about his solo that evening, but every time he momentarily forgot to distract himself he felt like his stomach had just been thrown in a blender. "Not really. I'm not exactly Dolly when it comes to performing in front of crowds." He smiled sheepishly, thinking of how Dolly always managed to attract a crowd when she was at the skate park. Instead of panicking with all those eyes on her she just seemed to focus better on what she was doing. Dylan was the opposite.

"Look, you're going to do fine. Mr. Westaway chose you for a reason. You're good at playing piano. Granted, not as good as me…" Dylan smirked at his taunt, "But I'm sure you're going to be just fine."

D.J. was obviously the most talented musician in his grade, but wasn't old enough to try out for the performance band or soloist positions. He still had to wait a bit for that.

Doug pulled the car up to the school and found a parking spot. "Alright everyone! Best behavior, your brothers and sister worked hard for this and we to show them support, but no cheering over the music, and wait to applaud until AFTER the conductor has finished."

Dolly blushed, enthusiasm was her forte, and over-enthusiasm was even more so.

The Dawsons quickly disembarked and headed up the front steps to the three story brick building. The school's auditorium was a later addition-some time after the war but before Delilah and Doug had gone there-so it was tucked far in the back of the school. Delilah carried Dorothy as the other younger children pulled ahead, nearly running to get to the auditorium. Any chance to run in school was a rarity, so they took it.

The Dawsons had had Dylan reserve a two row section in the front for them in advance, thankfully Mr. Westaway agreed. The previous year they'd had to split into small groups, which caused chaos when Debby had to use the bathroom and had no idea where to find Mum to take her. Hopefully this year would be free from any disturbances.

The concert started a bit after six, with Mr. Westaway beginning by thanking the parents and families, "Hello and good evening everyone! I'm Mr. Westaway, the band director here at Bellewood, and I want to thank you all for attending this evening. Your children have been working hard the last few months, as I'm sure you are aware." A few chuckles were heard, "So, without further delay our lower school will begin with our first piece, 'Holiday Medley'."

Mr. Westaway began conducting, and aside from a few missed percussion cues- Frank! Hit the cymbal!-the first half of the concert went smoothly. After six songs the lower school had finished their performance and Mr. Westaway called an intermission. Deepak, Dana, and Delgado quickly packed up their instruments and joined the family up front as the upper school got into place and tuned.

Dylan's solo was near the end of the upper school performance. The performance band had an extra three songs after the regular band finished, and Dylan's solo piece was between the second and third. It was "Minute Waltz" by Chopin. Mercifully it was short. It also had an extremely quick tempo, and had Dylan scrambling over the keys-especially during the beginning. He had played it correctly nearly a dozen times during school practice sessions, and nearly fifty more times at home, teaching his fingers to memorize where to go. None of that alleviated his stress however, and he still felt awful when he thought about it.

But there wasn't time to think about it now. Focus on the other pieces first. A few deep breaths helped clear his head as he waited for Mr. Westaway to finish tuning the low brass-the last section left. The pieces flew by, a movie soundtrack, some Christmas music, a jazz piece where D.J. got so into the music he was actually standing on his chair, and a few other incidental pieces wrapped up the regular band performance. Then the performance band began.

Nine minutes and thirty six seconds later-Dylan had been nervously glancing at the wall clock as he played-it was time for his solo. "Now for a special treat. One of our performance band students has taken it upon themselves to perform a solo piece, Dylan Dawson. Dylan's been a star pupil in our band program for years, so I asked if he wanted the opportunity to perform a solo at this year's winter rehearsal. He agreed, and after some discussion we decided on 'Minute Waltz' as the piece for this evening. I know he's been working his tail off for this, so let's listen up for Dylan Dawson performing 'Minute Waltz' by Chopin."

Mr. Westaway put down the mic and whispered, "I know you're nervous, but believe me, you're going to do great!"

Dylan cleared his head and placed his hands on the keys. The auditorium was silent for a few moments before he began. He began rolling his fingers over the keys, intensely focused on the music. The music began rapidly, then slowed to a gentle lull before picking back up as Dylan continued to stare down his sheet music. He was perspiring, he felt his hands getting clammy. Only a few more measures, he thought to himself. He continued, alternating between white and black keys, barely touching them as the tempo climbed. Then, he was done. The piece was over. He was in one piece and hadn't thrown up.

He was so engrossed for a minute that he hadn't heard the applause. The auditorium was filled with clapping, and from a certain section in the front he saw the beginning of a rising ovation. The auditorium slowly rose to their feet for a brief moment before Dylan realized he hadn't yet thanked them. He blushed, standing up and making a quick bow before them.

Mr. Westaway chuckled as he rolled his eyes, clapping near as loudly as Dolly. After getting everyone back under control he introduced the last piece, "Subdivisions" by Rush. He'd spent two months transposing the song for the band, being the massive fan that he was. Every year he managed to get at least one of their songs into the concert (three years ago he managed to rewrite "Red Barchetta" to sound like a Christmas carol for the lower school band!). It was a fitting finale, with a handful of parents even humming along-Doug nearly started singing until Delilah tapped him on the chest, smirking.

"Well, I think that was a fantastic concert. You all did a lovely job. Especially with your solo Dylan." Delilah smiled as she escorted her herd of children toward the school's exit.

"Does that mean we can get chips and shakes now?" Derek looked up, somehow managing to have gotten mud on him, despite being indoors the entire time.

She smiled, "I suppose. Who's up for Donahue's?"

The kids cheered, everyone loved the chips at Donahue's, plus they were open late so they didn't have to worry about rushing to eat. Sitting in the middle of the small shop with five tables pushed together the Dawsons talked and laughed. Dolly sat next to Dylan and ribbed him a bit as he was sipping his chocolate shake, causing him to momentarily cough.

"What was that for?" he asked, bemused.

"For finally learning how to not freak out when doing stuff in public. You did awesome tonight."

"Thanks, I guess I learned from the best."

Dolly rolled her eyes and went back to talking to D.J. He was looking forward to being able to try out for the performance band next year, driven to be even better than Dylan was. Dylan didn't mind, D.J.'s big thing was music and it was nice to have him look up to him.

It was a good recital.


	6. Dungeon Night

**Dungeon Night**

"Mum! Where's the orange soda? We're starting in a few minutes and I can't find it!" Fergus rooted through the pantry, trying to find the two liters of caffeine he would need to survive DMing another session with his often intentionally game breaking friends. Well, Dawkins and Dante did it intentionally, Dylan just happened to max out some stats a bit earlier than he should have been able to…

"Should be in the refrigerator next to the milk. Your mom moved it there earlier."

Fergus opened the fridge; sure enough there was a fresh bottle with a sticky note on it-"Good Luck tonight! Love Mom." Fergus tucked the note in his pocket and pulled the bottle from the fridge-it was already cold-and set it on the table next to the other snacks. He was glad Mom had remembered tonight was Dungeon Night. With her working nights at the hospital (in the same ward as Mrs. Dawson-no less), it ended up that he didn't get to see her as much as he wished. But she still managed to always leave a nice note and a gesture when she could. Tonight it was his turn to host-which made it a lot easier, as the younger Dawsons had a tendency to be a bit noisy which made it hard to stay in character.

The doorbell chimed and Fergus heard his Mum open it.

"Good evening Mrs. Selkirk. We're here for DnD." Dylan's voice rang through the front hall. Fergus smirked, only he called his mother by her last name.

"Dylan, how many times do I have to tell you, call me Isla. And that goes for the rest of you too." She smiled turning from the door to call back to her son, "Fergus! Your friends are here!"

"I heard, Mum! I'll be there in a minute." He walked out from the kitchen and greeted his party. It had been Dawkins' idea to dress as their characters, and no one else seemed to mind. Standing in a close cluster were a half-elf alchemist wearing midnight blue robes carrying a flask filled with cherry soda (Dylan), a dragonborn bard with a head made of cardboard and an emerald cape that had once been a dining room tablecloth (Dawkins), a tiefling necromancer wearing all black with a plastic skull fastening cloak together (Dante-obviously), and Dolly?

"Dolly, what are you doing here?" Fergus looked puzzled. "Not to be rude, but don't you have a dozen younger brothers and sisters to look after? And you've never played DnD with us."

Dolly rolled her eyes, "No Fergus. Mum and Dad are home tonight, by some miracle they both managed to get the night off, so I can do what I want. And I decided to see what this whole DnD thing is-it looked kind of interesting, and it will be fun to see how mad I can make Dylan by screwing with the rules."

Dylan's eye already started to twitch slightly. Fergus nearly laughed, instead smiling with a slight glint off his capped tooth flashing for a moment. The two siblings were best friends, but it didn't mean they both didn't love to push the others' buttons as often as possible. And breaking rules, however petty they may be, was one of Dylan's that Dolly loved to press.

"Well… alright. But it's going to take a while to build a character for you, not to mention you'll be a level one and we're all level six…" Fergus was already beginning to stress; he could feel his stomach tightening and his heart racing at the prospect of having to make up this much on the fly. Normally this didn't happen until Dante tried to resurrect some recently defeated enemy to try to kill it a second time for additional XP.

Dolly saw Fergus tense up and quickly reassured him, "Relax. I had Dawkins draw me up a character sheet. I rolled for everything-honest. Then we scaled me up to the same level as you guys so I wouldn't die the second we entered a battle. I know, it's totally cheating, but seeing Dylan's eye twitch a little whenever I got high stats was worth it."

Dylan crossed his arms as Dolly handed Fergus the sheet. Sure enough her character had rolled surprisingly well in most stats. "You're an aasimar druid? Are you sure you can handle playing as a lawful good?" He raised an eyebrow at his notoriously chaotic neutral friend.

"The handbook never says _lawful_, I intend to be as chaotic good as I possibly can be." Dolly grinned gleefully.

"Well, that will be interesting given everyone else's alignments. Well, get some snacks, it's going to take me a minute to write Dolly into the party. Then we'll meet in the den." Fergus frowned slightly as he pulled out a pencil and started scribbling on a notepad as the others grabbed snacks from the table in the kitchen.

Twenty minutes later the game began. Fergus had introduced Dolly's character as a traveler at a tavern the others were in, and they had accepted her into the party and begun the quest. They were to travel to a nearby town where people had been disappearing to discover what was causing the issue. Dawkins immediately suspected a warlock-and Fergus swore he needed to buy a bigger barrier because somehow the guy always managed to see his plot points well before they happened.

He opted to ignore the desire for a moment and focus on the evening ahead, beginning a bit of exposition, "As you approach the town you hear a rustling in the undergrowth near the edge of the path…"

"I smite it." Dawkins held up a paper cutout of a flame to the front of his mask.

"You can't just smite everything you see Dawkins. Even if you do have fire breath."

"Fine. I ready my sword and wait for it to come out." He huffed.

"Wouldn't it be wiser for all of us to just keep walking? There's a chance it's just a bunny-like last time." Dylan glared at Fergus. Last session he kept hinting at a mysterious shadow following the party as they progressed, and when Dante had gotten fed up and decided to use vampiric touch, he learned he had just sucked the life out of a small rabbit that had been following them, apparently thinking that Dawkins had been its mother.

"It's not a rabbit…"

"Well, I would like to see what it is before it attacks, so why don't I use precognition to see what it is."

"We are NOT using homebrew rules; this is a place of integrity Dolly…" Dylan scowled.

"I don't care. Honestly Dyl, given how OP your bombs have gotten-which I have tried to balance and simply can't seem to… I think giving her the ability to see a few seconds-what is it fifteen, yeah fifteen-seconds into the future isn't too bad." Fergus pointed to a label on his baseball hat. "I am the DM. What I say is law. Even if I contradict myself or make a mistake, it was totally to just test you guys."

"Ugh. Fine." Dylan conceded, already knowing how Fergus got when someone questioned his authority as DM-it was part of the reason why his character only had one eye now.

"Good. Dolly proceed."

The rest of the campaign had gone relatively smoothly, with Dolly only pushing Dylan's buttons a few more times. He didn't mind too much-he pushed right back with her hatred of unnecessary grammatical corrections, making sure to interrupt every once in a while to rephrase her sentence. While to an outsider the 'bickering' may have been a bit odd Fergus was used to it at this point, as were Dawkins and Dante, it was simply how the two functioned when there wasn't any pressure to be perfect older siblings. Fergus was surprisingly without headache. So far everyone had followed his instructions (mostly), it seemed as though Dolly helped balance the party a bit, and Fergus appreciated not having to un-derail the group every few minutes. That was, until the final boss battle, "Alright, so you've somehow managed to _talk_ my boss into agreeing to release the prisoners (stupid charisma modifier), when Dante decided to attack him because…"

"I'm a chaotic evil with the power to raise the dead. I want to kill this guy and add him to my menagerie."

"Alright. Fair enough." Fergus sighed, rubbing his temple while silently cursing forgetting to take an aspirin before the nonsense had started, "How are you going to attack him? Keep in mind, he does have around a dozen henchmen-hench goblins?-who will be seeing you attack him and spring into action."

"So? Has that ever stopped me before?" Dante twiddled the small skull clasp on his cape as he started looking into his dice bag for his D20.

"No, but at this point I've kind of given up trying to kill you every time you do something stupid because we'd never end up getting anywhere." He paused, "That, and all of you seem supernaturally good at saving throws."

"So, free pass to create chaos! Anyone else in?" Dante smiled darkly as he pulled out his black D20-the special one he strictly used to roll for initative.

"Why not, I could use some divine retribution." Dolly gleefully rubbed her hands together as she held a pink die.

"Well, if we're all going to do this-despite my nat 20 with modifier-I may as well join in." Dawkins rolled his eyes, upset at the waste of a good roll, but longing for a bit of combat (it hadn't been a rabbit, but it was only a squire with information for them). He picked up his blue D20 and polished it briefly with his sleeve.

"Fine. Dante you get this time, but next time we're up against a boss we can skirt conflict with, I'm not letting you initiate combat." Dylan huffed, a bit put off at how late it was getting-they did have a curfew, after all.

Fergus saw Dylan eyeing the clock and looked down at his watch. Crap, it was getting late. "Actually, this may have to wait until our next session-Mum says I have to get to bed earlier-something about five hours of sleep being 'unhealthy'. Plus, you guys should get home before your parents think it's too late."

"Aw… come on, we're just getting to the good part!" Dolly whined, then smiled, sheepishly trying to hide her enthusiasm. Dylan smirked. She had initially called DnD a nerd game, but she had quickly become as invested in the campaign as the rest of them.

"It's fine Doll, we'll pick up with it next week. That time it'll be at your place." Fergus was relieved, he had a whole week to relax before he had to come up with some big finale. Maybe this time he could bring in some ancient artifact as a MacGuffin for the next quest…


	7. Take Your Child to Work Day

**Take Your Child to Work Day**

"Alright, so it's agreed. Coin toss to decide who gets who." Delilah nodded as she picked up a pound coin from the table. "Heads are boys, tails are girls."

"Well, except for the young ones-after last year the station has set an age limit-eight or older only." Doug grimaced, remembering how the previous year had ended with half the building flooded after Derek wandered off and decided to play with some buttons on the tanker truck.

"That works for me, Janet said that it's a safety hazard to have young children in the ward." She too remembered the previous year and shivered momentarily.

She flipped the coin and caught it in midair, placing it on her hand. It was heads.

"Alright, I'm boys this year. And for all of you eavesdropping I hope you're happy-because I don't want any complaining tomorrow morning!" She directed at the door frame.

A few muffled footsteps shuffled away from the door and a voice that sounded distinctly like Dawkins mumbled something about needing to find rubber gloves for tomorrow.

After dropping off Triple D, Derek, and Deepak at school Delilah drove the rest of the boys to the hospital in the van. Doug had taken Dolly, Dana, and Dee Dee straight to the station from the house. The hospital was a large building-easily the tallest in the neighborhood-and its impressive concrete and plate-glass exterior glimmered in the early morning sun (a rarity for spring in Britain). After parking with the other employees the boys disembarked.

"Alright, I know most of you have already seen my work, but just to remind everyone of the expectations: please no running, yelling, going in rooms without permission, or leaving my ward. I trust you all can do this, right?"

"Yes Mum." They replied in chorus, with Dante rolling his eyes.

"Good. I know today is going to be great, so let's get in there and help some people." Delilah led the way through the lobby to the lift, with the eight of them squeezing in as she hit the button for the third floor. "So, I first have a brief meeting today with the other staff. After we finish you and any other children will be assigned to help with different tasks throughout the ward. I promise it won't be as bad as you think-and afterwards Dr. Lambert has scheduled a luncheon for us all." The lift dinged as the doors opened and the family filed out-with Dylan holding the door to make sure it didn't close on anyone. Delilah excused herself to the staff meeting and gestured towards a waiting room where the other children were waiting.

Or, to be more accurate, child. The only other person whose parent had brought them was Fergus. "What are you guys doing here? I thought you usually went with your dad."

"Mum and Dad had a coin toss. Apparently we were labeled 'safety hazards' after what happened last year." Dawkins cringed, remembering how Dolly had told them about the apparent flammability of x-rays after the fire last year courtesy of Dallas knocking over a lamp and burning down half a room before the sprinklers kicked on.

"Oh yeah, I remember that. Still surprised they decided to have it again this year."

"Why'd you choose your mom instead of mum?" Delgado asked, trying to get his chair to balance on its wheels-a habit he'd developed one summer he was particularly bored.

"I think I'd rather die than spend the day at a law firm. Everyone's always too busy to do anything, or if they do, it's just giving you a stack of paperwork to sort. No thanks."

Across town Doug was finishing up a safety briefing as Dolly, Dana, and Dee Dee sat in the back of the conference room wishing the clock to move faster than it was.

"How long has this meeting been? It feels like ages?" Dana whispered to Dolly, clearly bored.

"It's been twenty minutes. I counted the slides when Dad was setting up. We only have six more until he's done. Hopefully he doesn't get sidetracked again on some tangent about the best method to break down a door." She glanced again at the clock-9:18. This day needed to move faster.

At the hospital Delilah returned to the waiting room and handed out the assignments: Dylan and Fergus would help at the desk sorting files (_Oh come on!_), Dante and Dawkins would help Nurse Ellie with her rounds, David and Delgado would help clean rooms, and D.J. would help set up the room for the event afterwards with Carol from HR.

After a few moments of grumbling the boys split into their teams and went off with the different adults they were assisting. Dylan and Fergus followed Percy to the intake desk where he showed them the stack of files they would be working on. Percy could be best described in one word: beige. He wore beige scrubs (as all the desk workers at the hospital), had beige skin, nearly beige-blonde hair, and seemed as interesting as his appearance suggested.

"So, these are files of patients. Each file needs to be color coded with up to six labels. Each label indicates a different characteristic or quality of the patient while they are here. It is my job-well, our job today-to add these labels to the files and then place them into the correct alphabetic box for the staff to be able to reference later on. Now, legally you can't read the files-but you can help me place the labels and sort the files in the boxes."

"Okay. Where are the labels?" Dylan asked, clearly just trying to get through the day. Fergus was still fuming at having to do paperwork-after intentionally choosing the hospital to avoid doing so.

Percy whipped out a large stack of stickers from a cabinet beneath his desk and placed them with an audible thud on the table. "This should be enough to start. When we run out I have more in the supply closet."

Nurse Ellie was an older woman-Dante guessed she was at least ten years older than Mum or Dad-but she seemed as spry as someone half her age. Dante and Dawkins had to walk quickly to keep up with her brisk pace. Her speaking was just as quick, and nearly indecipherable given her strong Geordie accent.

She seemed to be talking about a football match she'd seen the previous day (Dawkins picked up her talking about 'Newcastle' and 'magpies'), and Dawkins and Dante simply nodded along, unsure of what to say. When they reached the first room on her rounds she opened the door and cheerfully greeted the patient-a man in his thirties who was in a full-body cast. She seemed to introduce her companions, and Dawkins nudged Dante to say hello.

"Hello, I'm Dante-we're doing rounds with Nurse Ellie today."

"And I'm Dawkins…" He hesitantly added, smiling anxiously.

She smiled and continued babbling happily, asking the man questions-to which he mostly responded in pained sounding grunts. She motioned for the boys to come closer and seemed to demonstrate how an IV worked-Dawkins watched as the saline cleared the line before she hooked up another bag. She pointed to a chest on the wall and seemed to ask for something, so Dante opened the doors. Inside were a few blanket and pillows. He guessed she wanted one, but had no clue which. He guessed and grabbed a blanket, which appeared to be correct, and she smiled and draped it over the man. Dawkins and Dante shared a brief glance and knew it was going to be a long day.

Cleaning rooms wasn't too bad-if it wasn't for the constant stream of bodily fluids on every surface imaginable. David wasn't exactly a hypochondriac-he knew he had a good immune system, having been the only one to avoid getting the flu last season-but being near so much blood and vomit was… disconcerting. He put on another new pair of gloves and adjusted the face mask he'd grabbed from a supply cart. He and Delgado were helping Clark-a middle-aged man of African descent-clean the rooms on the floor as needed. Clark's pager seemed to go off every few minutes with a new room to go to, which meant a new mess they had to clean up. Delgado couldn't get around in most of the rooms easily because of the tight quarters, so he was in charge of pushing the janitorial cart.

This time it was the aftermath of someone who'd been sick on themselves after eating. The nurse had taken the patient out of the room to get fresh air, but the floor and bed were still a mess. Clark rolled up the linens as David took the mop and silently prayed to anything above that he would be done with this soon.

Human resources was not as fun as it sounded. D.J. had figured setting up for a party would be the easy job-everyone else had to work on boring tasks, but D.J. could just set up a bunch of balloons and get the perfect playlist picked. Or, so he had thought. Turns out this wasn't just the party for Mum's ward. It was the party for the entire hospital staff who had brought children. That meant he had to set up almost four hundred folding chairs, not to mention tables.

Carol didn't seem bad, she didn't talk much, but at least she didn't complain when D.J. knocked over a stack of folding chairs in what may have been the biggest game of dominoes played in a hospital conference hall. D.J. was mentally counting how many chairs he had left-thirty down, three hundred seventy to go…

Doug finally finished his presentation at 10:06. He had gotten distracted twice trying to tell a joke about water pressure in hoses (which really wasn't much of a joke to anyone but the other firefighters), but it was finally over. Dolly sighed a breath of relief. Dana and Dee Dee were both barely awake, but this meant they might actually get to do something cool now. Dolly had never been to the station before-she'd either been with Mum, or had been unfortunate enough to get sick on take your child to work day (three times!).

"Alright girls, sorry about that. I know it was a bit boring to sit through my meeting, but some fun stuff is next! Follow me!" He cheerfully smiled and led the way through a door to the left.

Dolly shrugged as she got up, stretching her back from the stiffness of the wooden chair she'd been sitting in. Dana and Dee Dee trudged behind her, barely awake.

The room to the left was actually the garage for the firehouse. Dolly blinked twice in the much brighter room (the garage doors had large windows that filtered in the mid-morning sun) as she looked at the three large engines sat in front of her.

"So, I know this is your first time at the station and I figured I could show you all the engines and talk about what they do… if that's alright with you." Doug sheepishly grinned, clearly attempting to extend an olive branch after the tedious morning they had all sat through.

Before Dolly could even manage to get a word out Dana and Dee Dee shouted in reply, "Yeah!"

"Dad, that's so…"

"Awesome! Ooh! What's this one do?"

"Or what about this?"

"Can I sound the siren?"

"Or use the hose?"

The twins were bouncing up and down as Doug grinned.

"Thanks Dad. This is pretty awesome." Dolly stared up at her reflection on the chrome tanker truck's cylindrical reservoir.

Carol was better than not bad. She was amazing! Turns out she was an avid skydiver in her spare time, in addition to being a fan of basically every punk band D.J. listened to.

"Wait a minute, are you telling me you saw Lemon Killers live in '09? That was an epic show-I heard Fleming had an eight minute solo in the middle of _Ivy Madness_." D.J. was amazed at all the concerts she'd been to. It seemed like every one he had ever begged his parents to go to (or wished he'd been around to attend) she had front row seats for.

"Yeah, it was a heck of a solo. Even better was the after-party. Got him to sign my shirt and take a photo of him and my family. Here, I've got the picture on my phone. Sure enough the bespectacled woman was standing with her equally unassuming husband and a teenage son with a Mohawk along with Harvey _frackin'_ Fleming.

"Have you heard their new album? The new bassist isn't as good as Potter-who could be-but it's pretty good. A lot like _Body of my Perception_." Carol pulled up the album on her phone and plugged it into a speaker she had set up for announcements during the party. "I'm sure no one will mind a little music while we set up…" She grinned, and D.J. couldn't help but smile back.

Percy was right. They did need a second stack of labels. Fergus groaned mentally as he and Dylan had to trudge across the labyrinthine hospital to the supply closet. It didn't help that Percy had a bit of a limp and was taking a while to lead the group to the supply closet. Percy paused a moment at a corner and adjusted his pant leg, revealing he had an artificial left leg. Dylan nudged Fergus and nodded toward the leg-Fergus raised an eyebrow.

"Percy, if you don't mind my asking, how did you get your prosthetic leg?" Fergus asked, gesturing to Percy's plastic leg.

"Lost it in Kosovo."

"Kosovo?" Dylan wracked his memory, the name sounded vaguely familiar. "Was that the one in Yugoslavia?"

"Yeah. I was deployed there in '98 and lost my leg in '99."

"Sorry… That, well, sucks." Fergus felt somewhat embarrassed for asking the question.

"It's not the worst thing that could've happened. It's been twenty years, at this point I've almost lived as much of my life without than with it." He paused, unlocking the supply cabinet door. "When you're in special forces you have to expect things to be rough-you get sent into stuff that the normal guys could never handle. Losing a leg? Not the worst thing that could've happened."

"You were special forces?" Dylan's uncle had been in RAF when he was young, but aside from that he didn't know many other veterans, let alone one who'd been special forces.

"You bet your ass I was. I was a twenty-two year old punk from Newham who thought he could do anything." He smiled wearily, "Unfortunately landmines don't care what you think."

Percy picked up a stack of labels before continuing, "It was tough. I was told it was going to be a long road-and it was. But I managed. Now most people don't even realize, especially when they find out I'm a fourth degree black belt."

"Wow." Fergus couldn't really think of a good reply, so he simply repeated it again, "Wow…"

"Come on, if you two want to hear war stories I can share a few while we finish up. There's a fizzy drink machine on the way back-my treat."

"Alright. That's the last room for us today. My shift is over in a few minutes. All we have left is to drop off the linens for the laundry service. There's a service elevator that'll take us to the basement." Clark led David and Delgado down the hall before pressing the down button on the silver panel. The doors slid open and he gestured for Delgado to go first, then pushed in his cart, with David entering last. The elevator was easily double the size of the one they'd taken that morning, so even with the large cart it didn't feel cramped.

The basement was a network of white passageways with blue linoleum tile. This part of the building clearly hadn't been renovated, there was chipping paint and cracks in the flooring frequently. Clark didn't seem to notice or mind as he pushed the cart full of spoiled linens down the hall before unlocking a room labeled 'Laundry' and scooting the cart in. He locked the door again and turned left, instead of the right they'd come from.

"I know you two got the short straw today-no one wants to be a janitor-but for sticking with it and not complaining I have something I want to show you."

David looked at Delgado and shrugged, his younger brother returned the motion and seemed to intone-_why not? There's nothing else to do._

The hall they were walking down dead-ended abruptly on a set of double doors. Clark took out a key and unlocked them, "This hospital is pretty old. Back in the day they'd have life operations down here for doctors and medical students to observe. That ended well before even I started here, but the operation theater was still around. I discovered it a little after I started, got lost in the tunnels and got curious. When I found out no one minded that I used the room I kind of commandeered it as a personal 'crash pad'." He pushed the door open and flicked on a series of switches.

Inside the large room were a number of bulletin boards covered in schematics and illustrations-_well done illustrations_ David thought. There were also a few tables covered in bits of machinery that looked like old hospital equipment that had been disassembled, as well as a rack of power tools and a computer with a 3D printer.

"Woah, what is all of this?" David stated, somewhat in awe of the room. He looked closely at one of the illustrations on the wall-it was a detailed hand-drawn schematic of a human leg wearing a brace of some kind. "Did you draw this?"

"That and every other one on those boards. I heard your mum talk about how you like art, so I rigged the drawing so I could show off a bit…" Clark smiled.

Delgado was examining one of the items on the table, he cocked his head to the side to get a closer look. It looked familiar, like… "Are these supposed to be leg braces to help people walk?"

"Yep. I'm on the fifth prototype right now. If this one works like I intend I should be able to get a patent and contract a fabricator." He walked over to the table to demonstrate. "They're pneumatic, so in addition to offering support they actually bend and mimic regular walking patterns. They're a bit bulky, admittedly, but I'm hoping that I can manage to get them to work like a sort of external brace which can detect movement and replicate ambulation realistically without the use of arm braces."

"Wait… are you saying I could walk with these and not need braces?" Delgado nearly leapt from his chair to grab at the prototype.

"Hey! Not yet! They aren't ready for human testing right now. I still haven't fully calibrated them. But yes, if they work like I intend, you and everyone else with limited lower limb functionality could use them in place of traditional leg and arm braces."

"That's fantastic! How did you come up with this?" David turned from the diagram he was gazing at and reappraised his initial perception of the janitor.

"My youngest is in a chair and while I know he's happy, I've always wanted to be able to help him do more. I figured this was a good way how."

After a few more minutes of explanation and a brief demonstration of his previous prototype the three left the former operating theater. "Delgado, I've heard a lot about you from your mother. You're a good kid. When I do get this thing market ready you can bet I'll give you the second one we make."

The party that afternoon was enjoyable. As the boys reconvened and shared their stories over punch and light snacks Delilah chatted with her coworkers in a corner of the room. There were a few other kids there, but most of them were unfamiliar faces.

Delilah walked over to her sons and Fergus (who nearly was her child, given how often he seemed to be over at their house), "I heard you all had pretty good days with your different adults."

"Yeah, Percy's a total badass! Did you know he once jumped out a second story window and managed to land on top of a truck?" Fergus' face lit up and Dylan smirked at the normally stoic red-head's overt bromance.

"Clark's really cool too. Did you know he's making leg braces that work without arm support? I could walk around on my own without having to use my arms to swing everywhere!" Delgado made a mental note to take more interest in the other janitors he knew-maybe they all were this cool.

"And I take it you had a good time D.J.? Carol told me to invite you to go with her family to a concert next weekend, apparently she's an even bigger fan of _Chemical Chaser_ than you are." Delilah smiled, happy to have heard things went well.

"I'm there."

"Also, Dawkins, Dante, thank you. Ellie's been having a rough time of it recently, having just moved south. Apparently some people can't understand her well. But she said you two were wonderful. A little kindness goes a long way."

Back home everyone was happy with the way the day went, and Doug and Delilah are glad nothing went awry at work. Dolly shared how the day at the firehouse went while the boys all described their different partnerships. It was a good day for all. Then the phone rang.

"I'll get it!" Dylan called from the kitchen, picking the phone up off the receiver. "Hello, Dawkins residence. This is Dylan."

"Hello Dylan, this is Mr. Larson, Dean of Students for the lower school. Can I speak with one of your parents?"

"Sure. I'll get my mum." Dylan covered the speaker and shouted, "Mum! School's on the phone!"

"I'll get it out here!" Delilah picked up the phone in the entry as Dylan hung up in the kitchen.

Deepak quietly opened the back door as Dylan went back to chopping potatoes.

"He did WHAT?!" Delilah nearly lost her composure for a moment. "Well, how am I supposed to know where he got that much paper mache?" She sighed before continuing discussing the merits of environmental protests in school.

Dylan rolled his eyes and chuckled to himself, there couldn't be a day without some sort of fiasco-but that was life in a big family, a life none of the Dawkins would ever wish to trade.


End file.
